Brooks Koepka has been looking for something ever since winning the 2023 PGA Championship at Oak Hill. That week in Rochester, Koepka returned to his major-killing ways. He was fully healthy, firing on all cylinders, and his confidence was at its highest level.
But since his fifth major win, Brooks Koepka has seen his game decline at LIV Golf. Key results in 2024 and 2025 were well below elite standards. Poor putting was a source of frustration for Brooks Koepka. Due to LIV’s world travels, he has had poor grades, spent a lot of time away from his family, and last year he and his wife, Jenna Sims, tragically suffered a miscarriage. A desire to spend more time with his family was the driving force behind Koepka’s return to the PGA Tour in January.
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“It’s just my family,” Koepka said at Torrey Pines in January. “I’ve been through a lot with my family over the last five or six months. That played a big role in my coming back.” Sims and his son Crews have been able to get out more with Koepka back on the PGA Tour, and Brooks Koepka has quietly continued to play good golf. Everything is not organized. The putter remains a key point. He hasn’t competed in a signature event yet, but he’s getting close.
Brooks Koepka is getting back to his old self. Slowly, little by little. Finally, on Saturday, in a tournament Koepka probably didn’t have in mind before the season started, everything finally came together as the five-time major champion shot a back nine 29 to jump into contention at the ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic. This was the first time Koepka had 29 shots on the PGA Tour since the 2019 CJ Cup at Nine Bridges. And more importantly, this record gave Brooks Koepka what he was missing.
“This was the most exciting I’ve been playing golf in a long time,” Koepka said after his round. “That’s about it. I think it goes back to the 23rd PGA. That was the best. It’s been a long time since I’ve enjoyed golf. Last year was very frustrating. I just wasn’t in a good spot, but I think about it a lot. It’s the same for everyone, right? If you’re happy off the golf course, you’re going to play well on the golf course. I think that’s a huge part of it. I found that.
“I rediscovered my happiness, my love for the game. All the pieces are connecting. Now I have to go out and play.”
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Koepka finished T12 at the Masters, while Rory McIlroy defended his title and edged Koepka for his sixth major title. The following week, Koepka sat at RBC Heritage as the No. 1 alternate and was looking for a tee time. It didn’t come. He and Shane Lowry missed the Zurich Classic, a team event, and Koepka was subsequently removed from the reserve list for the Cadillac Championship.
But ahead of next week’s PGA Championship at Aronimink, Koepka took to the field in Myrtle Beach to get a tee time to fine-tune his game. He has been waiting for you to come back. His iron play has been great the last two months. However, he dealt with driver issues at the Masters and was unable to find consistent success with his flat stick.
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Koepka said “good golf” will solve everything. That would put him in the right spot to participate in signature events and win more majors. The kind of golf Koepka has been chasing arrived in Myrtle Beach on Saturday, but it may be a harbinger of something bigger on the horizon. At last, everything is starting to gel for Brooks Koepka’s second major in golf — a tournament he’s won three times and one on a rugged Northeast course that should suit his eye and game.
After Saturday’s 65, Koepka stood in front of a microphone in Myrtle Beach and smiled as he talked about a much-needed round in an unexpected location that would have been an unbelievable sight six months ago. Sunday and next week’s match against Aronimink, golf’s great major hunter exudes confidence as he looks to the future.
“I’m very excited. It’s going to be something I’ve been looking forward to for a while,” Koepka said. “It feels like a knock on the door. It’s very close. A piece here, a piece there.”
During a week when golf’s powerhouses were battling it out in Charlotte, Brooks Koepka went to Myrtle Beach in need of something. He may have found the final piece needed to bring the happy, cocky, and swaggering big-time killer of yesteryear back to life.
The post Brooks Koepka Found What He Missed – Just in Time for the PGA Championship appeared first on Golf.
